Meta Gamer in Equestria: Odyssey

by reflective vagrant

Chapter 25. Truth be Told, Part 3.

I slowly came to with what sounded like the humming of an angel floating about the room. I tried to open my eyes but they felt like they were made of lead it was so difficult to lift them.

"Fluttershy? Is that you?" I called out.

"Oh! Good. You're finally awake." I heard Fluttershy come over and press on my amulet so she could hear what I was saying.

"Are you thirsty? Do you need some water?"

I was a little thirsty, but that wasn't my main concern. I felt like I could barely move. My muscles didn't want to respond to the commands my brain was giving them. Even just calling out to her a moment ago had taken a bit of extra effort. Above all that, however, I needed answers.

"Where am I? What day is it? How much time until the..."

My mind caught up to the present and my body managed to jerk up a few inches. "The sentencing! What happened!?"

I held myself up for only a few seconds before my strength gave out and I fell back on the bed. My eyes were open at this point but it was pitch black. "Why can't I see!?"

"Take it easy. Everything is fine," Fluttershy called to me as she lifted up the sleep mask I had on my face. My eyes focused slowly on her as she waited for me with a calming yet relieved smile.

"You've been through a lot, from what I'm told. You're weak right now but the doctors say your strength should return soon enough. They couldn't give an estimate on how long it will take, with you being so different from us, but they did say that they were certain you would make a full recovery with enough rest."

I couldn't help but feel like I should be at ease at the sound of that voice and the warm glow of those eyes. So I rolled my head back to a resting position and breathed. As my eyes wandered, I found that I was back in my room in Fluttershy's cottage. I was calming down, but I still needed answers.

"But what happened in the courts?"

Fluttershy looked down, unsure of how to find the words as she struggled to bring herself to say anything.

My heart sank. "...I blew it, didn't I? Tempest is stuck with hard labor, isn't she?"

She tilted her head and seemed like she was about to answer when a cold voice from the other room chimed in.

"Not quite."

Tempest strolled in and leaned on the door frame while giving me a stern, yet relatively passive glare.

"The short version? That weird float in mid air and chant like a lunatic thing you did didn't affect the official ruling. The princess took your advice on leniency and has given me a deferred sentence. I'm indentured to work in a specific department of the civil cervices for a set amount of time. If I quit before that time's up, I have to go do the default sentence instead."

I gave an uneasy smile as Fluttershy helped me prop myself up on some extra pillows. "That's good, right?"

I could have sworn the room's temperature dropped five degrees after I said that. Her glaring eyes squinted in an ever so slight, yet significant way that made shivers go down my spine.

"To be honest, the job they have me doing is so ridiculous that I almost want to just break parole and turn myself in for a life of hard labor instead."

I darted my eyes around the room as I tried to think about what to say to such a remark.

Fluttershy waited patiently for a few seconds to let one of us say something, but when neither of us did, she cleared her voice in an attention grabbing way and addressed me, "Moss, I'd like you to meet our new-"

A loud noise cut her off as the front door burst open and a large dog like creature rushed in all covered in mud, followed by several of Fluttershy's more rough housing prone critters nipping playfully at him. When he looked up and saw me, he immediately ran through the doorway to my bedroom—Tempest pulling back with a smirk to let him pass—onto my bed and right on top of me, wagging like a hyperactive dog that had gotten into coffee grinds.

"Fish friend awake! Come play with Scraps!" he yelled while his paws landed on virtually every tender spot around my rib cage area and my knees.

"Scraps! Get down!" Fluttershy promptly glared him right off of me, making him cower behind Tempest to hide from her with his tail between his legs.

With "Scraps" and the rest of the critters suddenly calmed down, Fluttershy calmed herself, turned to me and continued.

"As I was saying. Moss, I'd like to properly introduce you to our new Senior RRE officer, Tempest, and her court appointed trainee parolee, Scraps the diamond dog."

I looked down at the "diamond dog" clinging to Tempest's leg and the new irritation on Tempest's face added on to the sour mood she already had. I tried and failed to rub my ribs while giving her an apologetic look of "I feel your pain."

The diamond dog then gingerly came back up to the bed and licked my immobile hand. "Fish friend help Scraps get out of mean stone house! Scraps love fish friend!"

"They are also our new roommates."

With a titter escaping Tempest, I turned to see a bittersweet, shit-eating grin on her face.

"Almost," Tempest spoke up again, "But I'll see where this goes first."

* * *

And so days went by and I regained my strength. By the end of the week, I was managing to stand without aid, albeit wobbly. Scraps was constantly eager to play or otherwise be around me, while Tempest, being in charge of him, refused to forbid it. If it weren't for Fluttershy's occasional glare, he probably would have seriously hurt me. I tried to tell him that him getting out too was a total accident on my part, but he didn't care. Fluttershy said he would calm down in time and that he was just ecstatic to have a real chance at a better life.

I asked about what happened in the court room, but all they said was that they promised the answers will come soon. They wanted me to just focus on my strength for now.

---

The morning I was finally able to walk across the room without fear of tripping, the crystalline guards were practically kicking down the door, they knocked so hard. Upon discovering I was fit enough for transport, Fluttershy and I were ordered to come with them for unknown reasons.

Was I in trouble? Was I going to be judged for whatever it was that happened in the court room? They didn't even tell me where we were going.

After a long chariot ride to the castle, I was escorted up the stairs, through the main hallway and into... a comfortable looking room with several exquisitely made chairs and sofas. A smiling Starburst sat on the far side of the table with another one of the rare winged and horned ponies that were apparently royalty sitting next to him. She was about the same size as Fluttershy, and had a look of eagerness to her that was begging to be let loose. I could swear I saw her squirm in her seat a little when I entered the room.

I had no idea what was going to happen next, and that made me feel the same kind of fear I felt when I first discovered a zebra could talk. Needless to say, I was more than just a little scared.

Author's Note:

oh, and for those of you that read it early, the translations are available for chapter 24

Comments

[reflective vagrant]

This is about a chapter late, but here is a comparison of Moss's differing speaking qualities so far:

(bear in mind this is just a "general" he doesn't actually sound like these, just of comparable quality/smoothness)

with being possessed in the court room:

with amulet:

without the amulet, trying to speak raw Equestrian:

[Even Evil Has Standards]

9241899
Ol Blue Eyes?

[reflective vagrant]

9241942
I could have also gone with Shean Connery (below) but the point was that he was an extremely smooth in his speaking in that particular point of the story. That just happened to be the best example I could find.

[Even Evil Has Standards]

9258634
Must've pushed the publish button without knowing it?

[reflective vagrant]

9258651
possibly. I'll post again with a title note saying it's finished. I just hope the moderators don't get upset from the one slip up. re publishing chapters and winding up on the updated story list more than once per update is not exactly something they smile upon.

[DerpTape]

9241899
. . . Yeah, the example of his unassisted equestrian is about what I thought from the description in one story, but it still made me laugh.